


Cas + Dean = ♥

by casstayinmyass



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Adult Castiel, Adult Dean, Bittersweet Ending, Childhood Sweethearts, Cute Kids, F/F, First Time, Fluff, Growing Old Together, Growing Up Together, Happy Ending, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Kid Castiel, Kid Dean Winchester, M/M, Teen Castiel, Teen Dean, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, a little bit of angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-16
Updated: 2015-10-16
Packaged: 2018-04-26 16:02:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,873
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5010982
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/casstayinmyass/pseuds/casstayinmyass
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Castiel Novak and Dean Winchester have been best friends since kindergarten. They grow up together, they grow old together, and this is the story of how long a single tree with a simple message carved in stood to tell of their love.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Cas + Dean = ♥

It was a Thursday at school, just like any other day in the grade 2 classroom. Meg and Ruby were whispering and pointing at Charlie, who was reading a comic book at her desk. Lisa and Anna were sitting together at the very front, doing everything the teacher said. Dean was causing trouble, and Cas was sitting at the back of the classroom, quietly cheering him on.

Mrs. Adler threw up her arms, and told Dean to be quiet for the umpteenth time that day.

"Mr. Winchester, please settle down! If you speak again, I'll have to send you to the Principal's."

"Mr. Winchester's my dad," Dean grinned, "Call me Dean, sweetheart."

Cas giggled softly, and the teacher looked to the other seven year old.

"Is something funny, Castiel?"

Cas looked up at her slowly. "Oh. My apologies, ma'am, the passage in this math textbook was implicitly amusing." The rest of the class laughed at his deadpan comment, and even though Dean didn't know what implicitly meant, he laughed too.

His mom said that Cas was different... he came from a different home, with different, stricter parents, and was expected to know words like "implicitly', and 'moreover,' and things like that. Dean didn't really understand, because he'd never been over at Cas' house while his parents were there. His mom also said Cas had a 'sophisticated' sense of humor.

The rest of the morning went by too slowly, and when it was lunchtime, Cas and Dean met, and ran out to the forest by the school playground where they usually played.

"Hey Cas," Dean said, smiling, "follow me." He took his best friend's hand, and ran out to their favourite tree, a tiny one compared to the others, but their favourite, nonetheless.

"What are we doing at our tree, Dean?" Cas asked, eyeing the small pocket knife his friend was holding, "We're not attempting to cut it down, are we?" Dean screwed up his face at Cas' blinking blue eyes.

"What? No, 'course not, Cas. Here... watch."

Castiel watched as Dean took the knife to the tree, and carved in the letter D, and a +. As he was cutting, he accidentally gave himself a gash in the hand, and he winced as he wiped it off.

Cas frowned, then Dean handed over the knife to him.

"Now you carve a 'C', okay?" Dean grinned.

"Why?" Cas asked, tilting his head.

"Well..." Dean sputtered, "It's supposed to represent our friendship, man." Cas smiled, and nodded, carving in his first initial.

"Now it's officially our tree," Dean said proudly, and the two laid down underneath it.

"If it's our tree, don't you think we should name it?" Cas asked, and Dean huffed.

"That's stupid."

Cas looked a little hurt, and Dean felt bad, so he bit his lip. "Okay, fine... Claire, how about Claire?"

Cas smiled. "I like that name."

After a few seconds of laying peacefully, looking up at the branches of their tree, Cas spoke up again.

"Dean... are you going to make me an honest man?"

Dean paused. "What does that mean?"

Cas looked away. "I don't know... I heard my mom talking about it a long time ago, I think it means when two people like each other a lot. It sounded nice, anyway."

Dean shrugged. "Then, sure. Why not? Mom says being honest is a good thing." He didn't know what it meant, and it did sound nice.

"Okay," Cas grinned, placing his hand on top of Dean's.

"Alright," Dean mumbled back, squeezing Cas' hand. He was happy to see his friend smile so widely.

-0-0-0-

Ten years later, in grade 12, Dean and Cas sat in a different classroom in the senior building of the school.

Everything was still the same; Meg and Ruby were still snickering and gossiping about Charlie, who was playing on her gameboy. Anna and Lisa were comparing answers to the work they were doing, and Dean was sitting back in his desk, whistling.

"Dean..." Cas whispered, "You should really pay attention. This class requires full attention to understand."

Dean shrugged, and Cas rolled his eyes, smiling a little.

After class, as they were walking out for lunch, Ruby walked by Cas, pushing all his papers onto the floor.

"Oops," she smirked, and walked off.

"Hey!" Dean called, "You try that again, you'll have me to deal with!"

"Aw, how cute," Meg drawled, walking by, "Winchester's defending his boyfriend... again."

Dean blushed, and Cas tried to collect his books. "Assbutts," Cas muttered, and Dean helped him pick up his things. Soon, they continued to walk again.

"You okay?" Dean asked.

"Yes, Dean, I'm fine," Cas snapped. After a moment, he stopped, sighing. "Sorry. They really get to me."

"Don't give 'em a second thought," Dean waved, "They're heavenly douchenozzles, anyway."

Cas smiles a little. "Yeah... hey- follow me," he said, and Dean frowned.

"Huh?"

"Just... follow!"

Dean had no choice but to follow his friend, and realized they were headed to the forest. Soon, they made it to the tree, where they had carved their names all those years ago.

"Oh yeah!" Dean laughed. "I forgot about this thing."

Cas grinned, "Claire's looking good."

"She is," Dean chuckled.

They sat down, and Cas picked at a  thread on his shoe. They listened to nature for a while, until they heard a small noise.

Dean frowned, and got up, beckoning for Cas. "Hello?" He asked, and when he looked around the other side of a tree a few away from theirs, they found Anna and Charlie, locked at the lips. "Oh," Dean mumbled, and Cas raised his eyebrows a little.

As soon as Anna's eyes opened and she saw that the two boys had seen them, she gasped, jerking away and scrambling up. "Shit. Everyone's gonna know now," she mumbled.

Charlie looked surprised, and Anna backed away, leaving Charlie to turn.

"Don't tell anyone, okay?" She whispered to them, and Cas nodded.

She then followed after, calling Anna's name and telling her to wait.

"Oops," Dean chuckled. Cas started to laugh as well.

"I had no idea..."

"Yeah, no, me neither..." They both grinned, and went to sit down again.

Cas stared at the ground for a moment.

"Dean... do you get embarrassed when the others say I'm your boyfriend?"

Dean thought for a second. Then he turned to Cas.

"Maybe a little, sometimes," he admitted honestly, "but you know somethin'? Sittin’ here with you, now… I don't even care," he smiled, and leaned over to plant a kiss on Castiel's cheek. Cas was taken by surprise, and he actually gasped.

It was supposed to be a quick, chaste thing, but they both turned their heads to look at each other, and Dean's eyes flickered down to Cas' lips. They inched closer, until they were connected, kissing and breathing into each other.

Cas rolled over, and straddled Dean's hips, leaning down to join their lips again. They made out for a good solid minute before Dean pulled back, smiling up at the brunette boy.

"Gee, Cas," he grinned, "You're a damn good kisser!"

Then he and Dean began to laugh, and fell back to lay down and look up through the branches.

-0-0-0-

Four months later, the two were sitting under the tree again. One was going to a school far away, and one was staying in town.

"Dean..." Cas said softly.

"I don't wanna talk, Cas," Dean said, looking up at the sky, "I just want to sit here with you. I wanna... spend the last few hours you have here before you leave just sitting together. Enjoying each other's company for the last time."

"It won't be the last time," Cas said, though his voice wavered a little. "Dean," he tried again, "I don't know what I'm going to do without you." This time, his voice broke, and Dean couldn't help the tears welling up in his own eyes.

"Say something," Cas all but whimpered, and Dean wiped his eyes with his sleeve.

"Say what? That... that I'm gonna miss you? That I won't be able to go on without you? I can't say that, Cas, 'cause it's all true, and if I say it out loud, it'll..."

He looked away, muttering, "Dammit. Why d'you have to leave anyway? Why can't you just go to a school here? Or at least around here?"

Cas shook his head adamantly. "I can't be around my family anymore, Dean. If I stay in that house, or keep in touch with those people, I might..."

He looked down, and rubbed his arm a little, down to his wrist.

"I fear what I might do. Ever since I was a child, Dean, I knew a family wasn’t supposed to be like that. That’s why I was always over at your house. Because even though your dad left when you were young, you had a real family. You had love, and I had…" the brunette sighed, “Rejection. Blame, berating criticism, every day.”

Dean brought a finger up to Cas’ cheek and wiped a tear away, carding a hand through his hair.

Cas sniffled, and Dean chuckled bitterly. "Look at us. Couple of 18 year old guys sobbin' their eyes out."

Cas was quiet.

"Cas, buddy," Dean said, "You're my best friend. No amount of distance is ever gonna change that, I guess. I... I need you, okay?"

Cas looked back at Dean. "Okay."

Then Dean sighed, letting the air out slowly, and searched for Cas' hand, threading their fingers together as they watched the sky get darker.

"Dean?" Castiel's voice was a beacon to hold onto in the sea of silence.

"Yeah, Cas?"

"My parents aren't home."

"They aren't?"

"No... Dean?"

"Yeah?"

"Will you spend the night with me?"

There was silence, and Dean rolled over to look at Cas. Something unspoken passed between them, and the freckled boy nodded, pulling Cas close to his body.

-0-0-0-

Ten years later, Dean sat in a job interview. He had just left the company he had previously worked for due to differences, and was now applying to a new one. He checked the time. And checked it again.

He was busy- he had a lunch to get to later with his friend Benny, then he needed to go birthday shopping for his sister-in-law, Jess. He hoped the interview would start soon.

Castiel walked up to the building, shuffling nervously up the steps. This was his first interview in a long time, but he was content to wait, since he was rather lonely otherwise.

He went in and sat down by a guy in a blue shirt and black pants. He took out a book.

Just then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw a tiny scar on the hand next to his… a scar right where that pocketknife cut that day.

He frowned, and looked up at the guy.

"Dean Winchester?"

The guy looked back at him, blinking, and after a second, his expression cleared into a brilliant smile.

"Cas?! That you?!"

They hugged, and stayed that way for longer than intended. Then they pulled back, and Dean shook his head. "How long's it been?"

"Ten years," Cas said quietly, "I thought I'd never see you again."

"Me either," Dean said, a little more somberly, "When'd you move back out here, man?"

"A couple of years ago. I missed it here," Cas smiled, then looked down. "Are you busy after this interview?"

Dean opened his mouth to say yeah, unfortunately he was, but hesitated when he saw Cas' hopeful blue eyes staring back at his. God, he missed those eyes.

Memories of the last night he spent with Cas, when they were only teenagers, flashed back- of Dean's hand sliding up and down Cas' back, making noises he had never heard from his friend, of both of them moving together, testing how things felt on each other... That night was filled with trial and error, both so inexperienced, and the first time was over faster than it started... but it had been the best night of Dean's life.

Who cared if he was busy? He couldn't let his best friend down.  

"I'm free," he grinned, and Cas smiled as well.

-0-0-0-

Three years later, Dean and Cas sat at the café they had gone to for their first date. Dean was tapping his hand against his leg, and Cas was pushing the last of his pie across the table.

"You finish it. I can't eat anymore," he groaned.

Dean looked at the plate. "I'm, uh... not hungry."

Cas raised his eyebrows, and sat forward. "Dean Winchester, what's wrong?"

Dean smirked. "Nothin''s wrong."

"Dean, ever since we started eating at the cafeteria at school, you would finish my pie. There's a glaring discrepancy here, something's wrong."

Dean sighed. "Discrepancy? Dude, you need to chill your vocab."

Cas gave him a pissy bitchface, so he chuckled. "Alright, fine. I've got something on my mind."

Cas leaned, taking Dean's hand. "Can I help you with it?"

Dean stared for a second, then got up. "Here... follow me. It's time we visited an old friend."

Cas frowned, but followed Dean to the car.

"Where are we g-?" "Just follow me!"

They drove and drove, until they reached their old school.

"No," Cas breathed, "You... you remembered?"

"’Course I did, angel!" Dean smiled, "Come on."

They hiked over to their tree, and their initials were still there.

"Cas," Dean started, pulling out the pocket knife, "We're gonna have to add a little something onto our tree."

"What?" Cas inquired, tilting his head.

Dean grinned, reaching into his pocket, and took out a tiny ring, holding it out. He then got down on one knee, and Cas gasped, covering his mouth.

"Just like I said, I'm gonna make an honest man outta you," Dean grinned, "Now that I know what it means, of course."

"Dean," Cas smiled, tears rolling down his cheeks, "You don't even have to ask! Yes!"

He knelt down too, and Dean slipped the ring on his finger, kissing his cheek. "Baby, I love you," Dean whispered.

"I love you too," Cas whispered back, throwing his arms around the neck his new fiancé.

"Now..." Dean said, turning, "Time to make it official."

He then carved an = into the tree beside "Cas" and, then a heart, so it was now: "Dean + Cas =❤."

“Hey, you remember when I proposed to you in grade five with that tinfoil thing I made?” Dean grinned.

“Like it was yesterday,” Castiel laughed happily. "Does Sam know about this? And Jess?"

 "Yep. They both do. They're dyin' to hear about what happened. My mom’s out of her mind excited, already talkin’ about wedding stuff.” His smile faltered for a second as he thought of something. “Do you, uh... wanna invite your folks?"

Cas bit his lip and just shook his head, so that was the last they talked about that.

"Oh, Dean... I love you."

They smiled at the tree, and held each other tight.

-0-0-0-

Fifteen years later, Dean switched the radio off in the Impala.

"Hey!" Claire, their 16-year-old adoptive daughter, protested, "That was my favourite song!"

"Yeah, well, your favourite song sucks," Dean retorted, and Cas rolled his eyes.

"I'm sure we can listen to her song, Dean. It's only three minutes out of our lives, then we can go back to your mullet rock."

"It's not just mullet rock," Dean sniffed, "They're classics."

"Come on, Dad! _God_!"

Dean scowled playfully. "You're to blame for this, babe. It was your idea to come up here."

"I wanted to show Claire where we first fell in love."

"She doesn't care about us old people! She just cares about her boyfriend. What's his name? Tristan? Trenton?"

"Travis," Cas corrected absently.

"Yeah, him!"

"We're only 45, Dean, I wouldn't consider that _ancient_ ," Cas deadpanned, and Dean huffed, though not without a smile.

They pulled up at the old school, which was now a dance academy.

"Man, this place is still standing?" Dean asked, and Cas looked around.

"Looks like it... there it is!!"

They walked up to the tree, and Claire looked at it.

"Awww! How romantic! So did you guys like... kiss here and stuff?" she asked.

"We did a lot more than that here," Dean grinned, clucking his tongue, and Cas nudged him in embarrassment.

"Ew! TMI, dad!" Claire balked, and Dean laughed.

"You think you teenagers today're frisky? You should've seen us back in the day. We made out for hours out here."

"Ooh, you _'made out'_ ," Claire said sarcastically, "You guys were regular deviants!"

Dean frowned at her. "I'm so done with your whole generation."

"Uh, you know you were named after this little fellow," Cas said, changing the subject, "We called this tree Claire."

"Seriously?" Claire smiled, "Cool."

They stared down at it, reading the engraved writing as they recalled all the memories that they made there, and Dean put one arm around his husband and one around his daughter. "I love you guys," he smiled, and Cas sighed contentedly.

"So..." Dean whispered in his ear, "You wanna send Claire to her Uncle Sam's tonight so we can re-enact our first time?"

“I don’t see why you would want to re-enact our first time,” Cas said, frowning, “It was incredibly awkward and we had no idea what we were doing.”

"It's okay, assbutts," Claire smirked, "I'll be at Travis's place tonight."

"Under no circumstances are you spending the night with a boy," Cas growled.

"Yeah, and you don't just announce it like that! You say, "that's alright, Dad and Pops, I'll just stay home and do homework," then you invite the dude over."

"Don't give her any ideas, Dean," Cas grumbled.

Claire pouted, but she liked Uncle Sam and Aunt Jess's place anyway. It was really big, and they had Netflix and unlimited wi-fi.

Cas looked at Dean, and the two stared at each other.

"I can't even tell you how much I love you," he said against his husband's lips, "You got me through everything, baby."

Dean smiled, nudging his nose against Cas'. "You bet, babe. We were meant to be since the day I asked you to borrow your crayons."

Cas laughed. "You broke five of them." Dean smiled slyly.

"Sounds like me. But that didn't even compare to what you wrote on my eraser in eighth grade!"

"I forgot it was yours," Cas blushed.

"Yeah, yeah, and after that, I knew you 'Heart James Dean'."

"See, it what meant to be! He had your name!"

"Dammit, you're cute," Dean said, and Cas opened and closed his mouth, unable to respond to that.

"Get a room," Claire said, and Dean grinned.

"I think we will!"

Cas smiled back at him, overwhelmed with adoration and a sense of ' _what did I ever do to deserve this_?' in that moment.

-0-0-0-

30 years later, Cas looked out the window of the car as the trees went by.

"We're almost there, Pops," Claire said, looking back at him, and Travis smiled.

"Yeah, Mr. Winchester. The address you wrote down is just up ahead."

Cas nodded anxiously, and once they finally got there, he bit his lip.

The old school-turned-dance academy had since been gutted in the many years since he had been able to visit, and now it was an empty building being sold to whoever wanted to renovate it or knock it down.

But the forest was still there... and miraculously, so was their tree.

Cas walked up to it, with a little help from Claire, and once he stood next to it, he felt a happy tear roll down his cheek.

He smiled as he ran his fingertips over the engraved words, lingering over the heart. His eyes closed as he thought of Dean, how his green eyes would shine in the sun and how his deep voice sounded whispering in his ear. 

"I miss you," he whispered, the wind carrying his frail voice away.

Just then, an old woman, about his age, came up to the tree as well from the other side.

"Castiel Novak?" she asked, squinting, and Cas looked at her.

"That's me… except you must have known me a long time ago, since it's been Winchester for years now."

"Oh... I should have known," the woman smirked, "it's Charlie, that weird redhead everyone used to make fun of in school!"

Cas' eyes widened, and he shook his head. "My god, Charlie. It's been so long."

"It has," she agreed, coming up beside him. "Where's Dean?"

Cas looked down at the tree. "He passed away last year."

Charlie rested her head on Cas' shoulder as a sort of comfort, and though Cas bristled a little at first, he found himself melting into her, and suddenly wishing he would have gotten to know her better when they were young.

"What about... um... Anna?" he asked, squinting as he hoped he got her name right. He was still wondering if that kiss that day him and Dean witnessed meant anything for them.

"We got hitched," Charlie grinned to Cas’ surprise, "Oh, and she's still kicking. She can't remember my name for shit, but I still wake up next to my girl every day."

Cas smiled. "Funny how love works, isn't it?"

Charlie hummed to humour him, and he went on. "You spend your whole life with someone, and then, even though it feels like it were yesterday you just met in kindergarten, they're gone... and you're old, soon to join them. All that's left to remind you of that love are..." his fingers once again traced the carvings, "Things you leave behind with them."

Charlie nodded. "Life's too short, don't you think? It would be so much better if we had some cool device that could make us immortal, and we could use machines to pump more life force into us! That would be so cool!"

Cas chuckled. "You and Dean would have gotten along just fine, Miss Bradbury."

Charlie looked at him and nudged his shoulder playfully. "Hey Cas- you wanna go for coffee? Talk about love some more?"

Cas looked at her, then down at the tree.

"I'd love to. Tomorrow, though. Right now, I think I'll just watch the sun go down and pretend I'm 18 and virginal again.” Charlie snorted.

“Give Anna my best, even though she probably doesn't remember me."

Charlie laughed. "Deal. See you tomorrow."

Cas sat, contented, listening to the bees buzz around him. It was a warm spring evening, and he could almost feel Dean's fingers threading with his as they sat together. He thought of how the bees sounded buzzing around him, and thought of how they sounded the exact same all those summer days he spent running around in Dean's backyard, when the only happiness he had in his life back then was that boy.

Claire was waiting with her husband by the fence of the small forest, even though Cas told her not to bother.

He never did make it to the coffee date with Charlie the next day... he took his last breath with his head in the grass as he stared up at the branches of the tree that watched him fall in love with his true love, Dean Winchester.


End file.
